Casting Call From The Tip Of The Mitt

Whenever you talk about fishing, size matters. It matters even more, of course, when you talk about fishing from a boat.

You can find affirmations of this idea across an entire ocean of literature, song and cinema. One of my personal favorites is that famous scene between the shark and the aquaphobic police chief in the big-screen adaptation of Jaws. Eyes ballooned in shock, his cigarette dangling off of his lips, Chief Brody slowly shuffles backward from the stern of the Orca. He mutters to his shipmates, “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

That iconic line resonates with us inland boaters, too, but in northern Michigan, it’s not so much about the horrors of the deep. It’s more likely about the prospect of an epic day of hook, line and sinker.

Thanks to an unforgettable excursion to ply the waters around northern Michigan last summer, we can now vouch for a better reason to get a bigger boat: more room for snapping selfies, landing monster trout, slapping high-fives and maybe even trying an onboard cartwheel or two.

Welcome To The True North

Starting out from our adopted home base at Bay Harbor, the first of our two epic angling adventures wasn’t on the lake at all, but on one of its many famous arteries.

Just south of Boyne City, we met up for an insanely-early a.m. fishing trip with the proprietor of True North Trout, Brian Kozminski.

After a brief introduction and a lightning-quick breakfast, we caravanned to our launch ramp, backed up to the silty shore and slid our guide’s fully-stocked drift boat off the trailer. We were about to launch a boat onto a river we’d never seen – and wouldn’t see clearly for at least another hour. The time was just shy of 5 a.m.

While the darkness was thick on this exceedingly early morning, it was not absolute. We still had the glowing red taillights of our guide’s SUV and a crescent moon over our heads, as well as some faint starlight and an unusually bright planet Mars. Another source of illumination, oddly enough, was a custom fly-rod setup that Brian had assembled for pre-dawn casting.

“This is all you need to see,” he told me as he threaded the glow-in-the-dark fly line through the rod’s eyelets. We loaded the remainder of our gear and coasted into a blanket of swirling water.

As the iridescent fly line unfurled above our heads, I shined my Smartphone’s home screen down at my lap. I could make out just the hint of what I thought was a pale moth or butterfly.

Brian answered my question before I even started to ask it. “Meet the Hex,” he said.

“Hex” is actually short for Hexagenia Limbata, he explained. “It’s the T-Rex of mayflies – the largest of its kind,” at least in North America.

Its body measures up to 2 inches long under a tent of translucent wings. It spends most of its life burrowed in the river’s substrate, then hatches briefly and explosively over a brief stretch of midsummer nights. The feeding frenzy that ensues by resident trout is the stuff of legend.

“We’re on the tail end of it right now,” Brian told us, referring to the short duration of the hatch. “The fish are getting full, but we’ll give it a shot.”

We gave it a lot of shots, actually. Our loud, lackluster casts and the already-stuffed bellies of our quarry had combined for what should have been a disappointing fishing trip. If our time with True North taught us anything, however, it’s that the true value of discovering new waters rests in the company you keep, and in the spirit of discovery – not in the fish count.



The Crown Jewel

You know you’ve done something worthwhile when the experience of that discovery affects you so deeply that it actually feels like a dream.

On Michigan’s Jordan River, it’s a special dream indeed. The waterway is considered to be a crown jewel of blue-ribbon American fisheries as it courses through 33 miles of pristine fish and wildlife habitat. Its waters cover premium spawning grounds for salmon and steelhead. The river also hosts a resident population of gargantuan brown trout, especially in its lower reaches as it courses toward the southern arm of Lake Charlevoix.

In addition to the Jordan, Brian also guides his clientele through other hallowed waters: the Au Sable, the Manistee, the Boyne and the Sturgeon. All of these lake-bound rivers flow within a 60-mile radius.

True North Trout is more than a shuttle service to these waters, by the way. It’s also an on-water classroom with lessons that span from casting techniques to reading currents, understanding the nomenclature of aquatic insects, scoping out resident wildlife and reveling in riverside curiosities. From the midship perch of his Adipose drift boat, Brian covered it all, even as he swapped out rigs and aligned the boat perfectly for our wayward casts.

As for his own angling pursuits, Brian considers himself a “consummate student of the waters,” always seeking knowledge and taking notes on every trip. “What worked, what didn’t, how high was the water and when was the last rain? What was the water temperature? What hatches were coming off? How did this compare to last year and the year before?”

Over a full day of casting, photography, fantastic onboard food and friend-making, we hardly noticed that the trouts’ bellies were as full as our own. The fishing was slow, as suspected. And yet it turned out to be the experience of a lifetime.

Off the River, Out of the Lake, Into the Bay

For the second leg of our angling dream trip, we decided to forego the river corridors and explore the expanse of Lake Michigan itself. Two hops and a skip beyond our lodging at Bay Harbor, we took a short stroll down the dock to RodZilla Fishing Charters, a Lake Michigan guide operation run by USCG-certified Captain Don Mapes.

Much like the pampered experience that we enjoyed with True North Trout, Don and his first mate went well out of their way to make our outing onto Little Traverse Bay as simple and carefree as possible.

Don’s 32-by10.5-foot vessel – in keeping with the catchy moniker of his service – also goes by the name RodZilla. It’s a beautifully maintained Sea Ray Weekender, packed with high-end gear, dedicated tackle and cutting-edge electronics. (It also features a fully equipped cabin with a V-berth, storage, head and galley.)

The boat offered us more than ample aft deck space – plenty for up to six charter guests. Since there were only two of us, our biggest challenge was how to constantly reel in all the fish.

Good Problem To Have

“Looks like you’ve got no shortage of rods,” I commented as we boarded for our afternoon run out to the crystal blue waters of the bay.

“Oh yeah, you can file that under good problem to have,” Don said. “It can get a little crazy out there when we get the rigs all going at once.”

It wasn’t until a short ride later that we realized what “going all at once” meant in Rodzilla-speak. Within 5 minutes of setting the lines, we had multiple hook-ups. At one point, we had the full occupancy of the boat – captain, crew, and guests – all fighting fish at once.

Our quiet dry-fly excursion, just one day earlier, seemed like a lifetime ago. Now we were riding the high seas, relatively speaking. But even accounting for the rollicking open waters of the bay, it was still quite a shock to witness the monstrosities that soon began landing in our nets.

Lake Trout, also known as Mackinaw or Lakers, can grow up to 50 pounds. They have experienced several decades of highs and lows in Lake Michigan and other waters of the Great Lakes. While invasive species have created a constant battle for various fish populations, trolling for these bruisers can still be nothing short of spectacular. Of course, we had the added bonus of utilizing a knowledgeable and talented guide to help us find and land the fish.

RodZilla’s charter operation is not only a great choice for its talent and tech – but also for its strategic location. The sheltered waters of Bay Harbor Lake serve as a convenient launch pad to the angling treasures of Little Traverse Bay and several species of gamefish. Along with the Lakers, Don notes, “RodZilla also specializes in King Salmon, Coho Salmon, Steelhead, Walleye and more. Fresh water, comfortable average temperatures and epic sunsets are part of daily life.”

We couldn’t agree more.

At The Tip Of Discovery

Long after we had returned from the peninsula to our daily metropolitan grind, so many miles and many months away from our adventures down the river and around the bay, I had a brief recollection of something Brian had told us during our float on the Jordan. In between the line de-tanglings and the casting lessons and the patient pampering, he told us of his passion for the waters all around the Tip of the Mitt. He testified of how fishing and guiding had led him to write, and that some of what he had written could be found in the archives of his blog.

If you get the time, visit www.truenorthtrout.com and check it out. Specifically, look for Brian’s creative non-fiction page. I read through it myself recently, and I’m glad I did. Here’s a passage that quite perfectly sums up our trip:

“Your breath is taken away by the awesome beauty and the splendor of nearly untouched waters,” Brian writes. “Rings dimple the surface, currents sweep under old logging left-overs, through undercut banks, all while cedar wax-wings swoop and dive up and downstream, feasting on a veritable buffet of bugs. Find a seam, keep low in the profile, cast away. This only happens once. You find these magical places on very few occasions. Take it all in. Treasure it. Love it. Dream about it.”

For More Information


True North Trout

Brian “Koz” Kozminski

231-675-1237

www.truenorthtrout.com



RodZilla Fishing Charters

Capt. Don Maples

989-306-1186

www.rodzillacharters.com